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User blog:El Alamein/The Malmedy Survivors vs. the Dunkirk Evacuees
It's a battle between two of the most beleaguered Allied soldiers of the Second World War as the Malmedy Survivors, the few Americans who escaped being killed in the open snow by the 1st SS Panzer Division at the Malmedy Massacre during the Battle of the Bulge, take up arms against the Dunkirk Evacuees, the British soldiers who desperately held out against an unstoppable German advance long enough to pull back to relative safety across the English Channel! Both warriors went through hell in their last-ditch efforts to survive some of World War II's most unforgiving episodes, but when the last ragged breaths of the dying have faded into silence, only one will be the deadliest warrior! Malmedy Survivors The Malmedy Survivors were 43 men left of about 120 that managed to escape ferocious German guns after their captors of the 1st SS Panzer Divison opened fire on their mostly unarmed prisoners. The massacre took place on December 17, 1944, in a field near the Belgian town of Malmedy. The men who made it back to Allied lines faced an intense brutal winter's cold, SS search parties sent after them, and their own wits and many who escaped the inital attack perished quickly afterward. Their struggle was featured in the film Saints and Soldiers, ''as survivors of the massacre struggle to evade German patrols and hide out until the Allies retake the area. Weapons |-| Close Range Weapon= '''M3 Trench Knife' *6.75-inch blade *3.5-inch serrated edge *Riveted leather sheath *Carbon steel blade |-| Mid Range Weapon= M1 Bayonet *16-inch blade *4-inch handle *Rawhide scabbard |-| Long Range Weapon= Colt M1911 *.45 ACP round *7-round detachable box magazine *Muzzle velocity: 825 ft/s (251 m/s) *Two spare magazines (three total) Dunkirk Evacuees The Dunkirk Evacuees were the men of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) who, in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Dunkirk in the Second World War, made a hasty and complete retreat across the English Channel to escape capture and annihilation by the advancing Nazi German forces. During Operation Dynamo over 300,000 British soldiers were ferried to relative safety. Of course, during this evacuation they were forced to fight desperately in an effort to hold off the German advance and they were harrassed with aerial attacks in an effort to impede their efforts. In the process of the Dunkirk Evacuation the British were forced to abandon vast quantities of vehicles, weapons, ammunition, fuel, and other valuable wartime material. Weapons |-| Close Range Weapon= Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife *7-inch blade *Double-edged *Metal scabbard *Carbon steel blade |-| Mid Range Weapon= Pattern 1907 Sword Bayonet *20-inch blade *4.75-inch handle *Metal scabbard |-| Long Range Weapon= Webley Mk. VI *.455 Webley round *6-round cylinder *Muzzle velocity: 620 ft/s (190 m/s) *Two spare cylinders(three total) X-Factors |-| Logistics= *Malmedy Survivors: 49 *Dunkirk Evacuees: 56 The Malmedy Survivors are very low on ammunition--they pretty much have what they were able to escape with. That being said, the Dunkirk Evacuees are not much better off, having had to discard and abandon large quantities of munitions and weapons in their haste to escape across the Channel. Still, the Dunkirk Evacuees had the ability to choose what to discard and when, a luxury the Malmedy Survivors simply did not have. |-| Stealth= *Malmedy Survivors: 78 *Dunkirk Evacuees: 64 The Dunkirk Evacuees had no need for stealth, as their greatest moment of glory was a high-profile defensive operation for an even higher-profile evacuation (it was lauded as a great victory by the British press to increase morale). The Malmedy Survivors, on the other hand, had a need to sneak through the Ardennes Forest and maintain a low profile after being fired upon by the 1st SS Panzer Division, as the Nazis hunted down the survivors with better-armed search patrols. |-| Training= *Malmedy Survivors: 75 *Dunkirk Evacuees: 75 The Malmedy Survivors are trained soldiers of the United States military - they're not special forces or anything, but their training is up to par with the soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force. Both forces were comprised of volunteers mixed with draftees and both received more or less the same kind of general training that was expected for an infantryman of the time period. |-| Experience= *Malmedy Survivors: 72 *Dunkirk Evacuees: 70 I have to give the slightest of edges to the Malmedy Survivors simply because they are fighting later on in the war and thus have had more opportunities to experience combat. The Dunkirk Evacuees were certainly baptized by fire during the Battle of France, but many major battles, including the Battle of Britain and the North African campaign, simply had not yet happened. The Malmedy Survivors, alternately, very well could have seen combat across Europe if they had been fighting since the invasion of Italy in 1943. Again, this is highly dependent on the experiences of the individual men, so this is why the difference is so marginal, but the Malmedy Survivors still get the edge. |-| Endurance= *Malmedy Survivors: 71 *Dunkirk Evacuees: 85 Although the Malmedy Survivors faced intense periods of hardships and braved the cold of the Ardennes winter, it was only for a very brief (if very intense) period of time. The Dunkirk Evacuees, alternately, had to hold out against a prolonged German attack for a much longer period of time, and many times had to make do while undersupplied and overwhelmed numerically. |-| Fatigue= *Malmedy Survivors: 80 *Dunkirk Evacuees: 73 While the Dunkirk Evacuees were pretty relentlessly harassed by the Germans during their escape, they were still part of a very large, coordinated operation and as a result there were likely a very few number of opportunities for rest or rotation for each man. The Malmedy Survivors did not have this option whatsoever, as hesitation meant running the risk of being captured or shot by the pursuing Germans. |-| Calm Under Fire= *Malmedy Survivors: 73 *Dunkirk Evacuees: 89 The Malmedy Survivors are trained to operate under combat conditions where an enemy is shooting back at them, but their primary focus is to stay alive and escape their ordeal. The Dunkirk Evacuees, alternately, operated almost entirely under enemy fire during their escape attempt, including artillery and aerial attacks as they waited on the beaches. Battle Malmedy Survivors: Dunkirk Evacuees: The snowy wind howls above the heads of the five men hunched below as they stand by the beach, staring empty-eyed out across the waves that disappeared into the unforgiving gray horizon. An uncharacteristic snowstorm has descended on the men of the Dunkirk Evacauation, leaving them even more bitterly miserable than usual. Behind them, as the beach gives way to gently sloping hills and then the sparse beginnings of a hostile forest beyond, there is movement. Five American soldiers, the ragged and war-weary survivors of the Malmedy Massacre, trudge out from the treeline and stagger out toward the beach. The American captain holds a Colt M1911 as he advances with his men. The British officer with his Webley turns just as the approaching Americans loom, shadow-like and startling, out from the swirling storm. He raises his gun and fires at one of the Malmedy survivors. The figure jerks back and disappears as the man falls back into the snow. The Dunkirk evacuees unsheath their knives and bayonets right as the storm eases up, clearing visibility just in time for the Malmedy survivor captain to return fire with his Colt and kill a British soldier. There is the briefest of pauses before the two groups muster the last reserves of their strength and charge. Gunshots sporadically break the silence of both groups trying to kill the other in hand-to-hand combat. One of the Dunkirk evacuees holds out his FS fighting knife and jabs at a Malmedy survivor, who jumps back and dodges before swiping with his M3 trench knife. The blade cuts the British soldier on the wrist, but he keeps his grip on his knife and moves in closer. Punching his opponent in the face, he forces the American to the ground, puts a knee on his chest, and drags the knife across his throat. The American soldier gurgles, spits blood, and dies. As the British soldier gets up, he turns to find himself staring down the barrel of the Colt. There is a click as the American captain pulls the trigger. Quickly sprinting back to change magazines, he disappears into the thickening storm. The Dunkirk evacuee checks his wrist--blood is dripping but the wound isn't immediately life-threatening. He turns to find one of his teammates engaged in a fight with two Malmedy survivors. The Dunkirk evacuee has out his sword bayonet, desperately attempting to use its length to hold his assailants at bay, while the Americans circle the British soldier, trying to use their numbers to catch the man off-guard. One of the Americans makes a feint as he lunges forward before pulling back, and as the British soldier turns and swipes wildly, the other Malmedy survivor rushes in and plunges his M1 bayonet into the Dunkirk evacuee's lower back. The man drops his sword bayonet and gasps in pain right as the Dunkirk evacuee with the wounded wrist steps in and dispatches his friend's attacker with a hard slash to the throat. Unfortunately for the British soldier, his squadmate was severely injured by the strike and has crumpled into the snow at his feet. Looking up, he finds the other Malmedy survivor advancing with his bayonet. The Dunkirk evacuee steps forward and makes a forward stab, but the American grabs his arm, stops the attack, and throws him to the ground. Before the British soldier can react he receives a stomp to the head that breaks his nose. Clutching his bleeding face, the Dunkirk evacuee offers no resistance as he is killed with a final blow from the M1 bayonet. The Malmedy survivor extracts his weapon from the body of his victim and stands up only to be shot in the face by the Webley revolver. The Malmedy survivor captain aims his M1911 and fires several times, missing the British officer. The British officer turns and raises his Webley, pulling the trigger, but he has already expended his ammunition. Luckily for him, his last remaining soldier leaps from the cover of the storm and tackles the Malmedy survivor to the ground, bringing his knife up to the American's throat. They hit the ground and the Malmedy survivor manages to jam his pistol into the ribs of his attacker and fire before the man can kill him. The British soldier rolls off and over to the side in pain, grunting and bringing his hand to the injury. Looking up, he can only glare defiantly as the Malmedy survivor finishes him off with a shot to the head. The British officer has by now been desperately attempting to reload, inserting bullets one by one into his revolver's cylinder. The Malmedy survivor watches him coolly while he calmly inserts his last magazine, sliding the clip into place. The last Webley bullet slips from the trembling Englishman's fingers and into the snow below. The Dunkirk evacuee looks up with his still-opened cylinder as the Malmedy survivor pulls the slide back, cocks the weapon and fires, dropping his helpless opponent. A harsh silence descends upon the beach again, punctuated only by the occasional angry whistling of the wind. Taking a moment to look around himself and digest his surroundings, the Malmedy survivor approaches the dead officer, takes his revolver and the bullet from the snow, and stands up. Inserting the last round in the cylinder and snapping it shut, he tucks the second pistol in his waistcoat and gives one final glance back at the bodies lying in the snow--he'd seen enough of those to last a lifetime. Overcome with a sudden kick of fear and pain that he couldn't quite explain, he stumbled and started running in the opposite direction. Expert's Opinion The Malmedy Survivors emerged victorious thanks to the superiority of the M1911 over the Webley, with its larger magazine capacity and easier reload, and also because of the tougher ordeal they had to go through. While the Dunkirk Evacuees underwent significant hardships holding off the brunt of the Nazi invasion long enough to escape, they had the assistance and coordination of hundreds of other men helping them. The Malmedy Survivors were completely unprepared for their trials and were forced to employ stealth and creativity in order to ensure their survival. Category:Blog posts